Sunday, December 19, 2010

It’s only been a month since Jimmie Johnson claimed his fifth straight NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship to close out the 2010 season, Christmas isn’t even here yet and the 2011 season opener at Daytona is still nearly two months away. However, the crew over at the Las Vegas Hilton Super Book hasn’t wasted any time and have posted odds on the Daytona 500 and the 2011 Season Championship before anyone else in the world.

Despite coming from behind to win the Championship in the final race last season, Jimmie Johnson is still a considerable 5-to-2 favorite to win his sixth straight title. His machine-like performance year after year in the crunch, with what figures to be the exact same team for 2011, makes him the easy choice.

Unlike years past, Johnson’s odds gap between his closest contenders isn’t as large. Denny Hamlin had the champ on the ropes, but couldn’t close it out in the final round. No one has stood toe to toe with the champ like that in any of the five title runs which is why Hamlin is the 6-to-1 second choice. Coming into the 2010 season, Hamlin was 10-to-1.

Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards figure to chase Jimmie Johnson again

Also coming in at 6-to-1 is Carl Edwards who closed out 2010 with two straight wins after going 70 races without one. The Roush-Fenway team came on strong in the second half of the season and found the horsepower that had been eluding them on tracks that the team had typically done well at over the years. We saw last season how momentum carried over from the previous season with the Childress teams who came within 39 points of beating Johnson with Kevin Harvick. Edwards and the other Roush teams could be in a similar situation for 2011.

Harvick will have Budweiser on the hood of his No. 29 Chevy and is listed as the fourth favorite to win at 8-to-1 along with Kyle Busch. The only negative affect that could slow Harvick from repeating his 2010 form is that Childress has brought on a fourth team with Paul Menard. Perhaps it’s a mere coincidence, but none of the four Childress cars made the Chase in 2009. When Childress eliminated one team for the 2010 season, all three drivers made the Chase.

Kyle Busch is the driver many point to as the one who could overtake Johnson, but the main component in Johnson’s success is something Busch has yet to figure out, consistency. Busch had three wins in 2010 with 10 top-five finishes, but couldn’t put together strong runs for long stretches at a time like Johnson, Harvick and Hamlin did all season, a story that has seemed to plague Busch for his entire career.

Jeff Gordon has gone 65 races without a win, but his consistency throughout gives him immense respect with the Hilton which is why he is 10-to-1. Last season he was fourth in the series with 11 top-five finishes. Coming into this season Gordon has quite a few changes that could lead to improvements. Not only will Dupont only be the primary sponosr for just 14 races this season, but in the Hendrick Motorsports crew shuffle, Gordon gets Alan Gustafson who worked with Mark Martin and Kyle Busch in the past.

Jamie McMurray and Dale Earnhardt Jr could be nice long shots

An interesting long shot choice is Jamie McMurray at 40-to-1 who had three wins with 9 top-five finishes in 2010. The horsepower is there, as is McMurray’s ability, but much like Busch, couldn’t put together a string of good runs.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is listed at 50-to-1 and gets an early boost with a fresh face overseeing the No. 88 car with Steve Letarte taking over crew chief duties. At no time in Junior’s career has his pre-season championship odds been as high as they are this year. The main positive for the No. 88 team this year is sharing garages with Johnson’s team. Ever since Johnson came into the series, it was Gordon’s team that shared garages with the No. 48. Letarte won’t even have to change his office with the switch and has a great relationship with Chad Knaus. Because of information being shared more due to the close proximity, look for Junior to have his best season while at HMS.

The Las Vegas Hilton Super Book has become the clear leader in Las Vegas for auto racing odds. Not only do they offer a multitude of weekly propositions for each Cup race, but they also carry the weekly Nationwide and Camping World Series odds as well. In addition to NASCAR, the Hilton also offers weekly Indy Racing and Formula-1 odds, a package of odds that no sports book in the state offers.

2016 Rundown· Four wins, 17 top fives, 24 top 10s,· Led 1378 laps· Average Finish of 11.6Homestead-Miami Speedway Outlook:· One win, two top fives, four top 10s· Average finish of 21.091, 23rd-best· Average Running Position of 14.792, 13th-best· Driver Rating of 95.5, eighth-best· 1962 Laps in the Top 15 (66.8), eighth-most· 447 Quality Passes, 10th-most